Epaphras, who is one of you and a servant of Christ Jesus, sends you greetings. He is always wrestling in prayer for you, so that you may stand mature and fully assured in the full will of God.Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, salutes you, always striving for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ, saluteth you, always labouring fervently for you in prayers, that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.Epaphras, who is one of you, a servant of Christ Jesus, saluteth you, always striving for you in his prayers, that ye may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God.
3 sermons cite this verse
… to persevere in prayer. Paul applauds Epaphras in Colossians 4, verse 12. He says he is always wrestling or laboring in prayer. So why? Why persist in prayer? Well, back to the purpose of the parable. Jesus told them this parable that they should always pray and, do you see it in the text, and what? And not give up. And not give up, or ESV, and not lose heart, or King James, and not grow faint. It's in kakeo. It's to lose one's motivation in continuing a desirable pattern of conduct or activity. It is to lose enthusiasm, or it is to grow discouraged. So we are to always pray lest we lose heart. We are to always pray so that we don't quit. We are to always pray and not give up. We are to always pray and not be discouraged. In this verse, I love it. And maybe this is just for someone here that's walking through a season of discouragement. In this verse, we see that prayer is the antidote to discouragement. …
… It's a consuming effort. It reminds me of Epaphras, Colossians 4.12. Epaphras, who is one of your number, a slave of Jesus Christ, sends you his greeting, always laboring earnestly for you in his prayers, that you may stand perfect and fully assured in all the will of God. For I testify for Him, He has a deep concern for you." That's rare. This is a man, the true slave of Christ, always laboring, in other words, struggling, wrestling earnestly in prayer for the sanctification of the people in His church because He has such a deep concern for them. What would happen to a church if everybody prayed like that for each other? All prayers are to be the result of watching. Do you know what's going on? Do you know the needs around you? The frequency of prayer, all time. The variety of prayer, all kinds of prayer. The manner of prayer, alert and persevering. a struggle. You stay with it. knowing that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man avails much, and that if you ask, you'll receive. …
… he was able to perform. Colossians 4.12 uses the same verb to mean fully assured in all the will of God. And Paul even uses it again in 2 Timothy 4.17 where he says, and this is the summation of his whole ministry, the Lord stood with me and strengthened me, that through me the proclamation might be fully accomplished and that all the Gentiles might hear. It's a compound word that means to fully accomplish your ministry, and you have not fully accomplished your ministry if you have not at the beginning, at the door said, the righteous and the wicked do not belong together here worshiping. This is not, of course, to keep them out, but to bring them in through the gospel. I think every time we come to the Lord's table, we need to remember 2 Corinthians 13.5, examine yourselves whether you're in the faith. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 11, I want to present you as a chaste virgin to Christ, and I'm afraid you're going to be led astray, you're going to be deceived like Eve was deceived. …